Got b!tched out last night by the manager @ the gym that I frequent. He thought I was dropping the bar, and that the noise “disturbed a potential customer” and cost him a sale. I doubt that, and I also mentioned that if I was actually dropping it, it would be from waist height and he would definitely know!
I do control it on the way down, but understandably (at least to someone who puts out on deadlifts), on the way down past my knees the 495-505lbs is moving fast and makes a THUD! (not too loud, but noticeable). In addition to that, the bar is real wimpy and flexes, so the weights rattle on the bar too. I asked the guys around me, they didn’t think I was dropping it or making objectionable noise…
I feel I’m a very courteous patron, and always offer spots and let people work in with me, so I’m not a “problem” customer. And, seeing as I get a good deal and gym is close and has good hours, I opted not to tell him that I was gonna stick the barbell up his @ss, and am looking for an amicable solution to this for both him and me.
So I’m gonna bring in some extra rubber matting from home to help reduce the noise when I set the bar down, any other ideas, short of changing gyms? I could lift less, so I could control the neagtive better, but obviously that’s not a solution.
Our gym has a sort of deadlift platform. Made of a plywood top layer and 2x4s underneath. The weights have a small amount of padding on them and there is also a top layer of that gym floor padding where the weights touch the platform. This helps some to muffle the noise.
That’s odd that the gym owner read you the riot act for making too much noise. As far as costing him a ‘sale’, it seems he’s pointed his blame cannon at you. I certainly don’t go to the gym for quiet time. Anyone who wouldn’t sign up at a gym because of that probably had other objections.
Unless you’re extremely attached, I’d probably find another gym. I wouldn’t bother bringing my own pads into the gym. Thats what you pay your gym membership dues for.
Seriously, loud noise is not good for business. That’s the kind of bitch world we live in. People don’t want to believe that lifting heavy weights and working hard is how you change your body.
They’d rather read a book by Dr. Phil to determine their shape, thus what kind of low-carb raw diet they should go on, then go into the gym and get on the stationary bike for 20 minutes to make sure they get their heart rate up, and then maybe one day in the future when they are “fit” again, venture over to the weight section to tone their six-packs. Because people who lift heavy weights and make a lot of noisy are only, gasp, testosterone-filled monkeys with no other skills in life who are going to pound away at the weights until they hurt themselves.
I don’t care to hear weights hitting the floor when I am working out. Some jokers, who usually are lifting too much weight for their abilities, drop the weights so nosily that the whole gym turns to see if someone got pinned under a bar or hurt. Quite frankly, if I am in the middle of an overhead lift, I don’t need to be distracted and that person is risking injury to me with his foolishness. However, I am not talking about hardcore, Westside type gyms where that is expected. However, that, and grunting like a gorilla just jumped on your backside, has no real place in “soft core” gyms or fitness palaces, in my opinion. Assuming your gym is in the latter category, I don’t blame the manager for mentioning it. Convenience aside, you need to get to a gym that supports your style of lifting.
Funny how he blamed his lack of sales ability on you.
There is a deadlift platform at the place I go also, but honestly it’s louder than using the triangle squat racks I use. The dead platform relies on you using the safety bars for resting the weight on the bottom, and that is metal. Metal dropped on metal isnt quiet.
The squat rack I use has those rubber coated flat panels on the bottom, set at just the right height for 45’s on a bar to barely touch the ground. Our plates are also rubber coated, not bouncer plates but not all metal either.
Deads still aren’t serenly quiet, but with them being done in the far corner of weight area, they cant compete with the noise the 35 treadmills make…
I am speechless! That pisses me off just thinking about it. I agree with Jared wholeheartedly. People just don’t get it. They don’t understand that it takes WORK to get results. God for bid if you make some noise. I can understand if you were THAT guy who screams with each rep (that is annoying)! But people bitching about weights clanging together? That is just unreal. I better stop while I am ahead as my face is getting red just thinking about it.
You shoulda handed him the weight and asked him to show you how exactly to put down a 500 lb deadlift without making a sound. We really have some assholes at that place.
avoids roids does have a point…there are always some idiots that make tons of noise…and its completely needless and just rude.
that being said i’d way rather be hearing someone doing deadlifts than people talking on their cell phones while walking on the treadmill or girls yapping for twenty minutes on the hip abductor machines ><
its completely baffling that a manager of a gym would take offense to that sound…i would be upset if someone said that to me and i was doing my best not to disturb anyone but was still paying the same money as the people that come and do nothing but take up space…
You guys must be talking about Gold’s. I’ve heard lots (of bad) about that place.
I used to lift at the WH CGB is refering to. They don’t mind noise there at all. In fact, I remember that when I would dead, a small crowd of people would be sort of silently cheering me on. Great motivation.
Steele, it’s the Richmond Road Gold’s. I understand the WH up the road has been redone, now it has two floors, a cage and some decent racks unlike Gold’s which has two A-Frame squat racks and a bunch of yellow equipment that everyone seems to use.
I use a Gold’s too, and they don’t have a problem with noise. We have a bunch of the 45-65 lb plates that are rubber-coated. It still makes a lot of noise, but not as much as the uncoated plates. Tell the guy to get some equipment to help him with his noise problem, or else ignore him. I doubt very seriously he will kick you out for being noisy.
I have been to gyms like this. Bunch of fuck heads. Needless to say, I have been to them once and never gone back.
If my gym complained about this, I would continue to lift and tell them to mind their own business. Luckily, my gym is hardcore and many people lift heavy weights and make a lot of noise. So it’s not a problem.
Malcolmzilla : I go thru the same shit at my gym! The
last six weeks, I’ve been doing an 8 X 3 Snatch DL
routine. Well, a session hasn’t gone by where some
“dick-heads” didn’t complain that the loud banging of the
weights was bothering them giving them a headache!
Two of the biggest complainers are the owner’s son
(an ex-bodybuilder) and his training partner. They’re
consistently after me with, “Ya got be more quiet, man,
the noise is killing us - besides, it’s better for your body
if you lower the weights as slow as possible; the
vibration’s gonna cause you serious injury!”… Can you
say ASSHOLES, eh?
The saddest things are - a.) I workout at a Gold’s Gym.
b.) I’m working out with 200 lbs less than you (although,
I am doing 24 total reps with the weight.) c.) I’m
lowering the weight “way” too slowly to begin with!!!
Pretty F@#&ed up,
I don’t think anybody could hear clanging weights over the constantly blaring music in my gym. The weights are all coated and the floors are padded anyway. And there’s a deadlift platform. Of course, it’s also not hardcore enough for it to be an issue. I’ve never seen anyone doing big deads there.
Yeah, it’s Gold’s @ Richmond Sq. in Calgary, and it’s the 3rd time Rocky has been on me over this. I’ve been deadlifting for about 18 months now, so I now refer to my Gold’s as “Spa Lady” for such reasons…
The floor is covered in rubber matting, the plates have a rubberized coating, but like I said, the bar has so much whip, and, on a big single deadlift, who really cares about controlling the negative, right? Heck if I actually dropped it I think I’d have more jam left be able to do more weight!
So, to preserve my $35 cdn per month gym fee, I’ll try some extra matting as I have some at home. And I’ll get then to crank up the Celine Dion greatest hits a bit louder. Failing that if he gives me anymore grief I will tell him to stick the barbell up his @ss and find a new gym, but I’ll miss the beer tub girls ( . )( . ) on the elliptical trainers though…
Maybe I’ll weld up a cage in my garage!
CGB, you going to WH yet? What sort of deals are they doing? Last time I checked it out it was $70 a month, but that let me go to both the downtown (work) and the 37th St (home) locations.
